Antibiotics transformed medicine dramatically by providing efficient treatments against bacterial infections causing severe illnesses and death. However, the emergence of antibiotic resistance is significantly reducing the efficacy of antibiotic treatments and bacterial infections have become a major public health threat again. Gram-negative bacteria like Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus or Clostridium difficile, are rapidly evolving resistance against multiple antibiotics. The endemic appearance of bacterial pathogens in hospitals, health care facilities and water treatment plants is causing an additional threat.
Until 15-20 years ago, new antibiotics were developed in time to counter emerging resistant bacteria. However, this pipeline of new antibiotics has dried up as the development of new antibodies is no longer a focus for pharmaceutical companies. For example, A. baumannii, S. aureus and M. tuberculosis are causing untreatable infections due to the emergence of resistance even against antibiotics of last resort. While the emergence of drug resistance among natural bacteria is of immense concern, man-made pathogens pose an additional threat. New antibiotics, particularly those that can treat infections with multidrug resistant bacteria, are therefore in dire need.